Midnight Wolf (Shifters Unbound #11)(95)

Angus watched Tamsin grow less downcast as the trip wound on. They headed back through Dallas and north to Wichita Falls, then west again to pick up the I-40 in Amarillo, retracing the path they’d taken with the carnival. Tamsin started playing with the radio the morning after their overnight in Dallas, singing along and trying to teach Tiger the songs.

Angus knew Tamsin was still bewildered and uncertain, the revelation about her origins coming as a shock.

He tried to tell her, as they lay in bed together, that it didn’t matter. She was still Tamsin, and they were mated. The fact that she might have Tuil Erdannan magic in her and powers like Ben’s didn’t bother him at all. Angus would be there as she learned all about them.

He wasn’t certain if it was his pep talk that helped her feel better or their long night of deep and silent passion and profound sleep, but as the road unrolled beneath them, Tamsin became more like herself, chattering about nothing, trying to make Tiger play road games with her—Whoever sees a VW first gets to punch the other. She stopped that game because Tiger kept winning.

“There it is!” Tamsin sang out as the road dipped down into Albuquerque. It was twilight, and the lights of Dante’s midway flashed into the darkness. “Let’s party!”

The first thing Angus saw when he slid out of the truck, glad the long journey was behind him, was Ciaran racing toward him like a shot. Dante was just behind the cub, waving in welcome.

Angus swept up Ciaran, holding him close. Screw Shifter Bureau. He was never, ever leaving his cub behind again.

Ciaran clung to Angus for a long moment, then he launched himself at Tamsin. “I missed you, Tamsin! I mean, Mom!”

Tamsin caught him up and spun around with him. “I missed you too, sweetie.” She hugged him close. “I love you, Ciaran.”

Ciaran latched his arms around her. “Love you too, Mom.”

Angus watched them, his heart full. So were his eyes for some reason. He surreptitiously wiped away tears and tried to focus on what Dante was saying.

“He was a good lad,” Dante told Angus with a grin. “Well, more or less. For a Shifter cub. Celene and I have got some pizza, plenty for everyone. Tiger, you coming?”

Tiger had hung back from the greetings and now he shook his head. “I will return home now. Carly and Seth are waiting.”

“You need a ride?” Dante asked. “I can see if one of my guys . . .”

“I find my own way,” Tiger said. “Good-bye, Angus and Tamsin. Ciaran.”

Ciaran squirmed down from Tamsin and raced for Tiger. “Thank you, Tiger, for taking care of my parents. I’m sure they needed it.”

Tiger lifted Ciaran for a tight hug, then set him carefully down and bent to speak to him in confidence. “Look after them,” he instructed. “I can’t always be around to do it.”

“Gotcha.” Ciaran nodded at him, then Tiger gave Tamsin one last, long look, turned, and faded into the darkness.

“Will he be all right?” Dante asked, peering after him.

“Tiger?” Angus searched the shadows for the big man, but Tiger was already gone. “He’s an expert at taking care of himself. If his mate and cub are at the end of the road, he’ll get there all the more quickly.”

“Hmm.” Dante gave the path Tiger had taken another look and then sent a similar assessment over Angus. “Come on. Pizza’s waiting.”

Angus couldn’t take Tamsin off to bed right away, as so many wanted to greet them, and neither of them wanted to leave Ciaran. They had their pizza, then Ciaran did his show with Celene, Angus and Tamsin watching from the audience and cheering him on.

They’d found a home here.

Celene, with keen perception, had Ciaran stay overnight with her family one more day. In the darkness after the close of the carnival, Angus slid himself over Tamsin in their large bed and made swift love to her. She kissed him as she came apart, her body moving with his, the mate bond warm between them.

After they quieted, Angus propped himself up beside her, skimming his fingertips over her soft breasts. “What do we do?” he asked quietly. “Keep following the carnival? Or head back home? To my home, I mean, in Shiftertown.”

Tamsin blinked up at him, her eyes full of sleepy contentment. “Is that even possible? I’m not Collared.”

“And you never have to be. I talked a lot to Dylan before we left Shreveport. I called him to tell him that the weapons cache was gone, so he could leave you the hell alone about it. Not only did I get him to promise to make a fake Collar for you, but he and Sean can manipulate records so it looks as though you were always in my Shiftertown and never had anything to do with Gavan. If Haider is still fuzzy about you, he’ll leave you alone. Dylan is making sure of it.”

“Dylan would do that?” Tamsin asked in surprise. “He’s not pissed off at us for destroying the arsenal?”

Angus shook his head. “He never wanted the arsenal. He wanted to know where it was, yes, but he wanted to destroy it too. So he told me. He was interested in you not only because you knew where the stash was, but because you were different. He’s met another fox, and wants to learn about fox Shifters—without the torture and dissection Shifter Bureau had in mind.”

Tamsin huffed. “You mean I dove out the window of that motel in Texas, jumped a barbed-wire fence, and ran through a muddy, plowed-up field for no reason?”